Judicial holdup

Elissa Cadish has an excellent reputation as a Clark County District Court judge. The University of Virginia law school graduate scores consistently high in a biennial survey of Southern Nevada lawyers to gauge judicial performance.

So Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., recommended to the president that she be nominated to the federal bench to fill the void left when U.S. District Judge Philip Pro took senior status. President Obama obliged last month.

But when Republican staffers with the Senate Judiciary Committee began a background check, they turned up a questionnaire Judge Cadish had filled out for a civic group while running for election in 2008. (She was appointed to the bench in 2007.) She was asked whether the Second Amendment conferred an individual right to keep and bear arms. She responded, "I do not believe that there is this constitutional right. Thus, I believe that reasonable restrictions may be imposed on gun ownership in the interest of public safety. Of course, I will enforce the laws as they exist as a judge."

Because of this, her nomination is now in jeopardy. For the past two weeks, Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., operating within Senate traditions, has effectively blocked the Judiciary Committee from holding a hearing on Judge Cadish's nomination. "I'm a supporter of the Second Amendment," Sen. Heller said Tuesday. "I support the Constitution. I believe it's a constitutional right, not a case-by-case right."

Sen. Heller is correct -- and the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that belief in 2008 in a Washington, D.C., gun case. Judge Cadish's position on the Second Amendment is troubling, to say the least. This is not a minor issue.

Sen. Reid and other Democrats have little standing to criticize Sen. Heller's move, however, because they ran this tactic into the ground during the Bush administration, hanging up several perfectly qualified judicial nominees over philosophical differences.

Sen. Heller has made his point loud and clear. Now let Judge Cadish face the Judiciary Committee and field the tough questions. If her answers are unsatisfactory, let the committee -- or the full Senate -- kill her nomination.

Because just as dozens of Bush judicial nominees deserved to have their day in the Senate, so does Judge Cadish.